~ Dale Robertson ~

"Dale Robertson was raised in France and Polynesia
by a French/Czech mother and Black/White/Indian father from West Indies...
He's what you can call a full mixed blood...
He has spent his early years in drawing, painting, and tattooing,
following his passion for "primitive art".
He had learned to work wood too, as well as bone or mother of pearl
during the years he spent in Bora Bora,
making sculpture, carvings, jewelry and several exhibitions.

He felt in love with flutes one day,
finding the perfect way to express several art forms when making,
as well as heart and spirit when playing.
Now his only goal is to work as good as possible,
during each steps, making unique instruments from branchs,
with a true respect for everything...
Thus working only by hand, from bore carving to shaping and holes making.

He's happy like a child when he succeed to obtain a perfect,
One Of A Kind sounding flute.
He likes to add drawings and woodburnings to the flute,
giving it life and soul, with old symbols from native americans,
and all around the world tribal cultures"

~ About branch flutes ~

We like branch flutes because they are always unique, in their sound,
appearance and spirit...
With one of these flutes, you are more closer to earth and the gifts it provides to you,
more happy to make music and express yourself...
You feel the spirit of the tree.

Wood

We use only local woods, trying to gather branch fallen from the tree,
given to us by mother nature. We don't cut living wood.
We take care as much as possible, to keep the branch shape and aspect,
just adding some work with our hands and tools, giving it the chance to live again.

Construction & finishes

Our flutes are made with hand tools , from start to finish, and they show it.
We split the wood and gouge the bore by hand, we shape the flute using knives,
rasp and files, trying to avoid electrical devices during our work,
to stay free to create or feel what we do...
We take as much time as needed for each flute.
Every flute takes at least two days to be made.
We take care to keep the wood as natural as possible, thus using only natural finishes.
Usually our flutes are sealed inside with oil (for the soft woods which draw moisture),
and with a harder product for hard woods.
Outside, we use oil, shellac and waxes.
We like our flutes to be safe and stay as close as possible to the branch given by mother nature.

Sound

Each branch flute has is own sound and spirit...
So it's difficult to define how a fallen branch flute sings...
Some flutes play with a loud voice,
other need just a baby breath to come to life.
Some have big holes, and other smaller ones.
Some are made in the woodlands style, and other in the plains style.
Some have a round sound hole, other a square...
In other words, each flute is truly unique, with its own voice,
and needs to bond with its owner...
On the other hand, speaking of "sound quality",
our branch flutes sound as good as a "regular" one...
We take care of the sound holes and tuning to get the best result,
and conform to the music standards...
There is no difference during the sound making process,
except our branch flutes need more care and time, because they are made only by hand.

~ Fallen Branch ~

Who are the fallen Branch guys ?
It's above all a group of friends, of some crazy artists,
who have choosen to feel pain in their arms making things by hand,
and spend days instead of hours to achieve what they love to do.
We make native american style flutes,
from branchs found in forests, plains, lakes and sea shores.
We also make, from time to time, "standard" machined flutes,
as well as walking sticks, drums, drawings, paintings and other crafts.
You can find the Fallen Branch creations on several seller accounts on ebay.
To find us all, just type "fallen branch" in the search box on Ebay,
or visit the following Ebay IDs:

John and Amos, from Missouri: Fallen-Branch

Dale, from O' Canada: O-Fallen-branch

If you want to go further, here is our contacts details:

Email: fallenbranch@gmail.com

Website: www.fallenbranch.com

Newsletter: Subscribe to the mailing list

"We reveal the flute inside the branch."